Pregnancy enhances the sensitivity of glomerular ecto-adenosine triphosphate-diphosphohydrolase to products of activated polymorphonuclear leukocytes

To test the hypothesis that pregnancy enhances the sensitivity of glomerula r ecto-adenosine triphosphate-diphosphohydrolase to products of activated p olymorphonuclear leukocytes, cryostat-cut kidney sections of pregnant and c ycling rats were exposed to activated polymorphonuclear leukocytes and subs equently stained for ecto-adenosine triphosphate-diphosphohydrolase activit y. The results show that the levels of ecto-adenosine triphosphate-diphosph ohydrolase activity of pregnant rats showed a significantly greater decreas e after incubation with activated polymorphonuclear leukocytes than did tho se of cycling rats.